Bill Wade

Billy Wade, 91, of Mountain Grove, Missouri, passed away peacefully on February 17, 2019, after complications from cancer while courageously making the best of everyday.

Born April 5, 1927, in Fulton, Kentucky, Bill attended Union City, Tennessee High School where he was co-captain of the football team, captain of the basketball team and president of his senior class. He doubled up in credits his senior year so the he could graduate early and enlist in the Marine Corp the day he turned 18 in 1945. After serving in the Marines, he returned home and attended Draughon Business College on the G.I. Bill. He married Freida Mae Fry in 1947, and their son, Mike, was born in 1949. Bill entered the management trainee program for Brown Shoe Company which took him and his young family through factories in Clinton, Kentucky, Piggott, Arkansas, Mountain Grove, Missouri, Union, Missouri, Sullivan, Illinois, and finally back to Mountain Grove as the Superintendent of the local Brown Shoe Factory in 1960, a position he held for over 20 years. Freida died of lung cancer in 1982. In 1987, Bill found the second love of his life and married Patsy Jo Moseley. The two proved to be a great team, and they operated a successful real estate and appraisal business until they retired.

Aside from his work life, which he loved, Bill was curious about everything and had many interests and a wide variety of hobbies in his lifetime, each of which he pursued with great passion. But in his later years, he focused particularly on hunting, fishing, collecting Model 1849 Winchester rifles, and, along with Patsy, looking after the rich and diverse population of wild animals that frequented their farm at Green Mountain. His grandsons always looked forward to their many trips to Grandpa and Minnie’s farm where every minute of everyday was always a new adventure. Bill was a dedicated husband, father, grandfather and friend to many. He was well known and respected in Mountain Grove and the surrounding areas and will be dearly missed.

Bill was preceded in death by his father, William Wilton Wade, his mother, Sally Bertha (Harrison) Wade, his wife of 35 years, Freida Mae (Fry) Wade, his sister, Martha Sue (Wade) Lynch, and his brother, Bobby Joe Wade.

He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Patsy Jo (Moseley) Wade, his son Mike Wade and daughter-in-law Carol (Joseph) Wade, and his grandsons Connor Wade (Callan Miranda) and Kevin Wade (Natalie Battistone), all of Sun Valley, Idaho.